VP says foes want him arrested

VICE President Jejomar Binay said Monday his detractors wanted him arrested before or after he files his candidacy next week, adding this was part of the grand demolition job against him and his family.

“The Office of the Ombudsman will file a case so they can get a warrant of arrest against me,” he said in a radio interview.

“I have already received information that I will be arrested. It’s either before the filing date or after I file my candidacy, but I will fight. I did not commit any wrongdoing.”

Binay

Binay on Monday also expressed sadness over the plight of thousands of teachers who, he said, were forced to take on additional jobs to survive.

He made the remark during World Teachers’ Day, saying he was disturbed that most teachers, who were supposed to teach respect for human rights, were themselves victims of abuses.

“ I have heard of teachers being employed by some schools who are given a measly salary of P10,000 per month, but are tasked to fulfill the gargantuan workload of someone who should be paid thrice that amount,” Binay said.

“Our teachers are expected to teach dignity but ironically cannot maintain their dignity since their salaries provide them with little option but to take on additional jobs or even work abroad as househelp.”

Binay made his statement even as a labor group on Monday appealed to all presidential aspirants to follow Binay’s lead and promise not to appoint politicians to Cabinet positions if elected next year.

“It has become counterproductive for a President to put active politicians in the Cabinet,” said Ernesto Herrera president of the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines.

“Political ambitions tend to distract Cabinet members in a big way from effectively performing their jobs,”

Binay, who is running for President under the United Nationalist Alliance, had previously pledged he will not appoint a politician to his Cabinet should he be elected next year.

Binay said his political opponents would not stop maligning him and his family but he vowed to fight back.

He and his family are facing charges before the Ombudsman in connection with the allegedly overpriced Makati City parking building and science high school, which were built when he was mayor of Makati.

But Binay has continued to deny he allowed the rigging of the contracts for the projects in Makati, including the allegedly overpriced P2.3-billion city hall parking building, when he was mayor.

He has also denied the allegations by former Makati City officials that he accepted kickbacks from the other projects.

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